Author: Hannah Whitlock

No butterfly native to the US is solidly pink. The rosy maple moth, primrose moth and five more pink fliers, with wingspans, ranges and flight seasons.

Seeing a scorpion is read as a warning to defend your boundaries. Here is what the animal means in Native American, Egyptian, biblical, Chinese and dream traditions, situation by situation.

Harvestmen, camel spiders, ticks, and spider like stink bug nymphs all get mistaken for spiders. Count body segments instead of legs and each one sorts out in seconds.

Purple dragonflies are real, but the color comes from a waxy bloom rather than pigment. Here are the seven US species that look violet in the field, plus the African one behind most viral photos.

Why a white butterfly is read as an angel, a departed loved one or a soul at peace in Christian, Irish, Japanese and Native American tradition, with a table for the garden, the window, a dead butterfly and dreams.

What a yellow butterfly means in Christian, Native American, Irish and East Asian tradition, as a spirit animal and omen, with a table for the garden, the window, repeated sightings, a dead butterfly and dreams.

Chigger bites are tight clusters of small red welts along sock lines and waistbands. Here is how they look day by day and what else gets blamed for them.

A bee in a dream points to work, reward, and community. Here is what a swarm, a sting, a dead bee, and honey each mean.

The gray ladybug you found is probably an ashy gray lady beetle. Here is how to tell it from five other gray species and from the carpet beetle that eats wool.

Blue spiders are nearly all tarantulas, and none lives wild in the US. Here are the six most reported blue spiders, their ranges, and the only bite that needs a doctor.